Breakaway cam



Dec. 2, 1969 o. J. DE'ROSA BREAKAWAY CAM Filed April 22, 1968 FIG.4

INVENTOR. DOM ENIC V. DE RO SA ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,481,219BREAKAWAY CAM Domenic J. De Rosa, Cranstou, R.I., assiguor to LeesonaCorporation, Warwick, R.I., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Apr.22, 1968, Ser. No. 723,078 Int. Cl. F16h 54/04 U.S. Cl. 74568 4 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to textile equipmentand, more particularly, to a programmer utilizing cam blanks havingbreakaway lobes and indicia to facilitate programming the machineaccording to a predetermined schedule.

In setting up operation of various textile machines it is oftennecessary to provide special programmer cams for controlling variousoperations of a machine. These cams have either been specially cast ormachined and this is both costly and time consuming and requires a largeinventory of cams. One type of such Leesona Corporation programmerincorporates a rotating cam shaft carrying from 24 to 28 cams each camcontrolling one or more actuators or followers, necessitating a vastinventory of cams.

The invention, in brief, is directed to textile equipment programmercams and, more particularly, cam blanks. These blanks are provided withbreakaway lobes, arranged in one or a plurality of rows along a camsurface, thus providing easy removal of particular lobes. The lobes bearidentifying indicia to facilitate removal of particular lobes accordingto a predetermined schedule.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved camblank and, more particularly, a cam blank having removable lobes.

Another object is to provide a new and improved cam blank having easilyremovable lobes along its cam surface with the lobes bearing identifyingindicia to facilitate removal of particular lobes according to apredetermined schedule.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description and the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, facial view taken through a cam shaft andillustrating partly in phantom lines, an embodiment of a cam blank;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken generally along the line22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary facial view taken through a cam shaft andillustrating another embodiment of a cam blank formed into a cam; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken generally along the line 44in FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a cam blank mounted on arotating cam shaft 12. The illustrated blank may be any suitable metalsuch as brass or aluminum or any suitable plastic such as Nylafil S/303,481,219 Patented Dec. 2, 1969 and has a disc shaped body 14 with agenerally circular cam edge portion 16. This cam edge portion is a rowof lobes 18, the lobes shown in phantom lines illustrating lobes to beremoved for providing a desired cam surface 20. A cam follower 22 ridesacross the lobes 18 on the cam surface and either actuates or deactuatesits related control element (not shown) when it rides off of a surfaceand into a space from which a lobe has been removed.

In order to remove the lobes 18 from the cam body 14, each lobe issecured to the cam body by a reduced neck portion 24 as may best be seenin FIG. 2. The lobes may be connected to each other by similar reducedneck portions but it is felt preferable that they be separated fromadjacent lobes, for example by casting the lobes with a slit 26 betweenadjacent lobes or cutting such a slit to separate the adjacent lobes. InFIG. 1 the cam blank has one circular row of lobes.

A cam blank having lobes of the type shown in FIG. 1 may have aplurality of rows of these lobes, and each row may serve an independentfollower.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a similar cam 28 formed from a blank but with twocircular rows 30 of lobes 32, the lobes of one row overlapping adjacentlobes in the other row. As previously discussed, the lobes 32 areconnected to a body by a reduced neck 34. The cam blank may be formedwith as many such rows 30 of lobes as is desired.

Removal of a lobe 18 or 32 may be accomplished in any suitable manner,as by gripping the lobe with a plier and bending it to break it from thebody at the reduced neck 24 or 34. Obviously, the cam surfaces of theblanks may have shapes other than circular, for example they may beelliptical or oval, if desired, and the lobes may be of any desiredconfiguration in addition to the two illustrated examples. In order tofacilitate setting up the cam blanks accordmg to a predeterminedschedule, the lobes are numbered 1n consecutive order, the illustratedcam blanks having 24 lobes. Thus, it is merely necessary in setting upthe cam shown in FIG. 1, to'provide a cam schedule stating: Remove lobes4-6, 9, 11 and 12, 14-18, and 20-23. These are the lobes shown inphantom lines. For the cam shown in FIG. 3 the schedule would state:Remove lobes 5-8, 10 and 12-23. Thus, neither drawings nor otherinstructions, nor any special machining is required, nor is it necessaryto maintain a large stock of variously shaped cams in order to set upthe programmer in a desired manner.

While this invention has been described with reference to particularembodiments in a particular environment, var1ous changes may be apparentto one skilled in the art and the invention is therefore not to belimited to such embodiments or environment except as set forth in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A cam blank comprising a body, a plurality of lobes about said body,said lobes being disconnected from each other and extending outwardlyfrom said body, and means securing said lobes to said body andfacilitating detachment of said lobes from said body, said meanscomprising reduced neck portions, one connecting each of said lobes withsaid body.

2. A blank as set forth in claim 1 in which said reduced neck portionsare each integral with said body and the associated lobe.

3. A blank as set forth in claim 2 in bear indicia tofacilitate'identifyingparticular'lobes.

which said lobes References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Sherry et al.

Hipp.

Larkin 74-568 XR Collins -74'568 Horstrnann. Cappelle et a1. 74568 XRGideon 74568 XR Roberts 74568 XR Gayring 74-568 XR FRED C. MATTERN, JR.,Primary Examiner 11/1930 Ames 74568 XR 10 F. D. SHOEMAKER, AssistantExaminer

